The Venezuelan armed
forces should therefore be on guard, Maduro said: “I ask you, military officers
of Venezuela, to raise your guard, be on the alert all along the
Colombia-Venezuelan border. Operational Strategic High Command, take all the intelligence,
counter-intelligence and logistical measures to nullify any provocation or
incident that the outgoing Colombian government would like to leave behind as a
rotten pot against the Colombian
Venezuelan relations.”

Maduro also asked the
Colombian security forces not to be part of its government plot: “From here I
send a message to the Colombian military, to the Colombian police forces, not
to lend themselves to the dirty dealings [marramucias],
the traps that the outgoing Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos wants to
leave incubating: a military conflict, doing the errand for the North American
Imperialism against the independent and sovereign Bolivarian Republic of
Venezuela. I trust you, Colombian military, not to lend yourselves to a
conflict between brothers.”